Texas DWI update – Sherman & Plano, TX Criminal Defense Lawyer (Part 1)

I haven’t written a DWI blog in a bit, so I think it is time to do an update.  Grayson County, Texas are particularly strict jurisdictions when it comes to driving while intoxicated, but there are still ways to have a better case and a better result in your case.  Grayson and Collin County District Attorneys run on a platform of strict DWI enforcement, and the counties are very Republican.  So, they pays particular importance to DWI cases.   But since I began practicing in 2005, I have seen some small shifts (and improvements) in the ways that driving while intoxicated is enforced in these and neighboring counties.

If you are arrested for a Texas DWI in many small counties, you can ask for a “reduced” or alternative charge and sometimes get one.   There is technically no lesser included offense to first time driving while intoxicated, and the lesser included offenses to DWI2nd or DWI3rd are just that you have a fewer number of prior convictions.  Class C (traffic ticket level) public intoxication is not a lesser included offense of driving while intoxicated, because public intoxication requires you be so intoxicated as to be a danger to yourself or others.   Obstructing a highway/passageway is another misdemeanor that we try to alternatively get as DWI defenders, because it is not a DWI conviction.   Thus, it does not normally carry the heavy $1000-2000 a year surcharge for three years on your driver’s license, nor require all the conditions of probations as driving while intoxicated.  In many small counties, you can successfully shoot for one of these two charges if your DWI is a close case and in other circumstances.